A Megalomaniac's Guide to Character Creation V2.1

What is this?
This is a comprehensive guide to the character creation process. I will say this now and get it out of the way- these are guidelines to help new members and you backsliding vets to create acceptable characters with as little trouble as possible. It should not be considered a perfect set of guidelines, as the needs of members and the forum may change as time passes. Anything which falls outside of what is written here is up to the discretion of staff.


Are you a boy? Or a girl?
One of the first things you should think about before even starting on the app is what YOU the PLAYER hope/want to do. While this is technically a Superhero VS Supervillain, you shouldn't think that you are limited in creating a character whose only purpose is to be EEEEEEVAAAAAAL, or fight bad guys. If you just want to roleplay social interactions between characters, and have as little actual fighting as possible, you can do that. I still ENCOURAGE you to give your characters powers, so that you don't just limit yourself to a "normie" who wouldn't be able to join in the Super community. You still don't have to give them super great powers. Just some powers that set them apart from the normal masses that could be useful. They could become part of a team.


After deciding what YOU the PLAYER want to do with your character, the next major question you should think about is what does YOUR CHARACTER hope to do in this world? This should work with what you as the player want to do. Do you like roleplaying fight scenes? Make em a superhero to fight bad guys. Are they trying to help society by other means? Like a scientist making a scientific break through? Not all heroes wear spandex or capes. There are all kinds of things for your character to do. It's only limited by what you want to roleplay, and your own imagination.


Power Guidelines
The site has been around a LONG time, and gone through all kinds of highs and lows in power. All characters for the most part will have 1 main power, and up to 5 "applications" using that power. This is to try and fit into the theme of the original teen titans, who all had a single "core" power that they could use for different things. Beast Boy can change into virtually any kind of animal, Raven has psychic powers, Cyborg is... a cyborg, and Starfire is a Tamaranean.

Origins of your powers plays a part in helping with this. Cyborg's "power" can be derived from technology, though science can also be applicable. Starfire's power is derived from her Alien heritage making her powers "super/natural" in nature- though the old comic book version would have Science as the origin.

To explain Powers and Applications more clearly, think of it as "what power does your character have, and what can they do with it?"

An example of limitations for powers would be a character lifting 12 to 20 tons (average weight of a bus) at the absolute max. This is before taking into account everything your character can do, in addition to that. Weaknesses, downsides and the like may allow for some extra wiggle room. Just bare in mind that all limitations are being loosely based off of the canons of the show so this will not be 100% correct all of the time. But you can still use them as examples, not including certain canons like Brother Blood (who has mind control) and Trigon (who is essentially The Devil).

When making powerss, keep these in mind: "How do they do it, and what can someone do in response to it?" The first point both refers to the "applications" of a character's power, and details. You are not required to try and explain how your character's powers work scientifically; that's absurd. But you are still required to provide details like range, temperature, how strong they are, etc. You can also mention limitations or downsides to using their power. The second part refers to what someone can do in response to your character using their power. Is your attack super-fast? Then there needs to be a visual and or audio cue to tip someone off that "something" is about to happen.

Powers that do not allow another player to do anything will be VERY difficult if not impossible to get approved. If your power causes paralysis, for example, that robs the player of the victim from being able to do much. In essence if another player can't feasibly write a good post in response, it won't get through. That is not to say "control" powers will never be allowed. But the price for trying to get such a power may not be worth it in the end.

Something else to keep in mind when making powers is choosing something you can add applications to later on as your character developes. Starfire for example gained the ability to shoot eye beams, she didn't have that to start with. So if your power is "Super Strength" for example, you're very limited in what you can do with it. Some powers are more versatile than others. On the other hand, you can have "Augmented Physiology" which you can build upon later.

Tech and Magic
Up to this point we have only been discussing the meat and potatos of "Superpowers." But now we can discuss how characters can make use of Technology in the form of gadgets, magic, or natural ability. Robin is an example of a character with Natural Ability would be the origins of his power, which he supplements with "gadgets." He is a character that relies on his peak human physical ability, martial arts and gadgets.

This is a gameplay mechanic of sorts. Metahumans get power, and are limited in what they can do with it. But tech or magic users are not limited in this way. Their "applications" can be virtually anything, within reason. Robin for example, has a wide variety of gadgets that do different things based on the situation. Explosive discs, freeze discs, shock discs, and birdarangs to name a few. It should stand to reason that a limitation of gadget users is that they only have X amount of any gadget they can use. This does not include characters that use "Power Armor." In this case, "Power Armor" would be the character's core power with 5 applications.

Magic users, as in those who rely on magical spells likewise are not limited to "1 power" like Metahumans. They instead can learn to cast spells of all kinds, whether it be damaging spells using the elements, or defensive spells that create shields or inhibit opponents. Their downside is also unique in that instead of running out of uses, they instead have "cooldowns" to represent the spellcaster's "mana" recharging. The more powerful of a spell you make, the higher this cooldown becomes.

In addition, it is possible for ANY character to within reason learn how to cast spells or create gadgets. Since currently it is not possible to gain additional POWERS.

Skills And Abilities
Skills are just what you expect; they're things your character has learned or mastered up to this point. Bare in mind that they both serve as character fluff and helping determine certain outcomes based on the obstacle. It is bad story telling for example, having your character who has NEVER learned how to disarm a bomb, suddenly be able to disarm a bomb about to go off with little effort. Likewise it doesn't make much sense for a character with no formal martial arts training, just casually throwing out proper punches or kicks professionally.

More mundane skills, such as cooking, singing, driving- the less likely that it would make sense to overcome a challenge or obstacle through roleplaying, the more likely it is to just be character fluff.


Abilities are the "natural" physical talents a character can simply develop up to this point. They are the physical equivalent of Skills. Things like "peak" physical traits, eidetic memory, being ambidextrous, being flexible- etc. Abilities SHOULD NOT be made as additional powers under normal circumstances. An exception to this would be if you wanted to make things more challenging for yourself by using them with cooldowns, forcing you to play more strategically. But you can still achieve this by doing the same thing in the Powers section of the app.

Another exception to this would be under the pretense that your character is from a very unique world, where things work differently, OR there is a unique circumstance that makes what they're doing "unique." For example with a ghost possessing a physical body, in addition to the power of being a ghost and the applications, they COULD use an ability slot to briefly manifest to ward off attack to their physical host using their ghostly body. Again this is one possible exception.

In conclusion, anything which falls outside the normal that requires some degree of conscious effort, is a POWER. Anything which can easily be found in real life that some people can actually possess/learn, is a skill or abiility. Powers will always be at the highest point of a character's capabilities, with skills and abilities tied and being beneath that. Again, they are not additional power applications. They are lesser character traits that are intended to customize a character with floof that in certain circumstances serve a practical purpose.

Other Guidelines
Talking about Origins here, something new to mostly help determine how powers interact with each other and the world. Nth metal for example negates magic or magical abilities, and "anti-metahuman" handcuffs also exist. Science relates to the trope of a character getting their power through some kind of experiment. This can either be a successful experiment, or an accident. But your character gained their powers through scientific means.

Mutation is the "norm" of superhero/villain comics. These would logically make up the bulk of characters going around with super powers. But how or why the mutation exists varies greatly. You could just have won the mutation lottery and discovered you could move super fast. This isn't limited to just the human race but includes all possibile races in the form of a tamaranean that gained the power of ice breath, for whatever reason. This is also a classification to determine whether or not specific "anti-meta" equipment can be used to counter them, much like how Nth Metal counters magic.

Technological origins are similar to science. Except is tied to the usage of gadgets, or sophisticated equipment. If your character uses power armor, or a variety of gadgets exclusively, then this is the origin for you.

Magic can explain a wide variety of powers. Maybe you have a magic amulet that grants you superpowers. Maybe you recieved a "blessing" or a "curse" that grants you the power you have. Or maybe you're a naturally gifted spellcaster.

Super/natural or Supernatural and Natural, pertains to your character having natural gifts based on your heritage. Unlike Mutation which was an event that made you special, for all intents and purposes you are "normal" for whatever your race is. Robin would fall into this category, as there isn't anything "special" about him and he learned how to do the things he does. Raven on the otherhand falls more into the "supernatural" side of the coin, and has the power she does because of her heritage. But it was not a sudden "mutation" that triggered after she hit puberty.

Final Notes
As stated, there are currently no ways to gain multiple power sets. And it is possible to gain extra wiggle room depending on your character's weaknesses, age, and overall quality. This will never be an exact science.

Also keep in mind that canon characters will require higher quality, not just in their "4 paragraph" sample roleplays. But the entire application as a whole. You will also more than likely have to make more of an effort to play as that character, based on the canon's role and importance in the world. If you cannot or don't want to play as that canon any more, staff reserves the right to give someone else an opportunity to play that canon.

Also putting this out there before it becomes an issue, do not think that because you have a canon character that they are "untouchable." They follow the same rules as everybody else, and have just as much chance of being defeated or perhaps even killed as anyone else. In other words, if you're not careful with how you post with them you are just as liable to lose the fight as anyone else.